1. Maintenance Guide
  2. Maintaining Exadata Database Servers
  3. Adding and Configuring an Extra Network Card on Oracle Exadata

2.7 Adding and Configuring an Extra Network Card on Oracle Exadata

You can add an additional network card on Oracle Exadata X6-2 and later systems.

Prerequisites

Ensure you are using the correct link speed for Oracle Exadata X7-2 and later compute nodes. Complete the steps in Verifying and Modifying the Link Speed on the Client Network Ports for X7 and Later Systems.

Oracle Exadata X6-2

Oracle Exadata X6-2 database server offers highly available copper 10G network on the motherboard, and an optical 10G network via a PCI card on slot 2. Oracle offers an additional Ethernet card for customers that require additional connectivity. The additional card provides either dual port 10GE copper connectivity (part number 7100488) or dual port 10GE optical connectivity (part number X1109A-Z). You install this card in PCIe slot 1 on the Oracle Exadata X6-2 database server.

After you install the card and connect it to the network, the Oracle Exadata System Software automatically recognizes the new card and configures the two ports as eth6 and eth7 interfaces on the X6-2 database server. You can use these additional ports to provide an additional client network, or to create a separate backup or data recovery network. On a database server that runs virtual machines, you could use this to isolate traffic from two virtual machines.

Oracle Exadata X7-2

Oracle Exadata X7-2 and later database servers offer 2 copper (RJ45) or 2 optical (SFP28) network connections on the motherboard plus 2 optical (SFP28) network connections in PCIe card slot 1. Oracle offers an additional 4 copper (RJ45) 10G network connections for customers that require additional connectivity. The additional card is the Oracle Quad Port 10 GBase-T card (part number 7111181). You install this card in PCIe slot 3 on the database server.

After you install the card and connect it to the network, the Oracle Exadata System Software automatically recognizes the new card and configures the four ports as eth5 to eth8 interfaces on the database server. You can use these additional ports to provide an additional client network, or to create a separate backup or data recovery networks. On a database server that runs virtual machines, you could use this additional client network to isolate traffic from two virtual machines.

Oracle Exadata X8-2 and X8M-2

Oracle Exadata X8-2 and X8M-2 database servers offer 2 copper (RJ45) or 2 copper/optical (SFP28) network connections on the motherboard plus 2 optical (SFP28) network connections in PCIe card slot 1. Oracle offers an additional 4 copper 1/10G (RJ45) or 2 optical 10/25G (SFP28) network connections for customers that require additional connectivity. The additional cards are:

  • Quad-Port 10 GBase-T card (part number 7111181)
  • Dual-Port 25 Gb Ethernet adapter (part number 7118016)

The additional card is installed in PCIe slot 3 on the database server.

After you install the card and connect it to the network, the Oracle Exadata System Software automatically recognizes the new card and configures either the four ports as eth5 to eth8 interfaces for the quad port card, or eth5 and eth6 for the dual port card on the database server. You can use these additional ports to provide an additional client network, or to create a separate backup or data recovery networks. On a database server that runs virtual machines, you could use this additional client network to isolate traffic from two virtual machines.

Oracle Exadata X9M-2

Oracle Exadata X9M-2 database servers offer a variety of flexible network configurations using one, two, or three network interface cards. Each card can be one of the following:

  • Quad-Port 10 GBase-T card (RJ45) (part number 7111181)
  • Dual-Port 25 Gb Ethernet adapter (SFP28) (part number 7118016)

After initial deployment, you can add network interface cards up to a maximum of three network interface cards on each database server.

On non-Eighth Rack systems only, you can optionally install one Dual-Port 100 Gb Ethernet adapter (QSFP28) (part number 7603661) in PCIe slot 2.

After you install the card and connect it to the network, the Oracle Exadata System Software automatically recognizes the new card and configures the physical ports as follows:

  • Quad-Port 10 GBase-T card in PCIe slot 1: eth1, eth2, eth3, and eth4
  • Dual-Port 25 Gb Ethernet adapter in PCIe slot 1: eth1 and eth2
  • Quad-Port 10 GBase-T card in PCIe slot 2: eth5, eth6, eth7, and eth8
  • Dual-Port 25 Gb Ethernet adapter in PCIe slot 2: eth5 and eth6
  • Dual-Port 100 Gb Ethernet adapter in PCIe slot 2: eth5 and eth6
  • Quad-Port 10 GBase-T card in PCIe slot 3: eth9, eth10, eth11, and eth12
  • Dual-Port 25 Gb Ethernet adapter in PCIe slot 3: eth9 and eth10

You can use the network ports to provide multiple client networks or to create separate dedicated networks for backup/recovery and bulk data transfer. On a database server that runs virtual machines (VMs), you can use multiple client networks to isolate traffic for each VM cluster.

Oracle Exadata X10M

Oracle Exadata X10M database servers offer a variety of flexible network configurations using up to five network interface cards.

Each X10M database server contains two factory-installed CX6-LX network cards, each with 2 x SFP+/SFP28 ports (10/25 GbE).

Each X10M database server can also contain additional field-installed network cards. The following field-installed network cards are supported:

  • CX6-LX with 2 x SFP+/SFP28 ports (10/25 GbE)
  • CX6-DX with 2 x QSFP28 ports (100GbE). Each QSFP28 port can support one 10 GbE or 25 GbE link with appropriate breakout cables.
  • Fortpond RJ45 Ethernet with 4 x 10GBASE-T ports (10 GbE)

You can optionally install up to 3 field-installed network cards. Each additional card can be of any supported type.

The following list outlines the physical port mappings that apply to each X10M database server network interface card:

  • Factory-installed CX6-LX network adapter in PCIe slot 3: eth9 and eth10
  • Factory-installed CX6-LX network adapter in PCIe slot 8: eth29 and eth30
  • Optional quad-port Fortpond RJ45 Ethernet adapter in PCIe slot 1: eth1, eth2, eth3, and eth4
  • Optional dual-port network adapter (CX6-LX or CX6-DX) in PCIe slot 1: eth1 and eth2
  • Optional quad-port Fortpond RJ45 Ethernet adapter in PCIe slot 2: eth5, eth6, eth7, and eth8
  • Optional dual-port network adapter (CX6-LX or CX6-DX) in PCIe slot 2: eth5 and eth6
  • Optional quad-port Fortpond RJ45 Ethernet adapter in PCIe slot 6: eth21, eth22, eth23, and eth24
  • Optional dual-port network adapter (CX6-LX or CX6-DX) in PCIe slot 6: eth21 and eth22

You can use the network ports to provide multiple client networks or to create separate dedicated networks for backup/recovery and bulk data transfer. On a database server that runs virtual machines (VMs), you can use multiple client networks to isolate traffic for each VM cluster.

Additional Configuration

The following topics contain additional configuration procedures, which you may need to perform after you add a card to a database server:

Parent topic: Maintaining Exadata Database Servers